"Say it!"
Anthony's entire body shut down on instincts; after all, he has years of practice to hide from Kate and hide from his feelings, and yet now there is no where to hide because the girl he loves more than life itself is holding onto him, urging him to confess his feelings.
He watched that after a few minutes of urging, tears started to fall from Kate's as she covered herself with blankets and turned away. "I am sorry. I know we are young, and eighteen is not the age where people declare their love, and yet I hoped you did feel how I felt about you, but it's okay if you don't."
She was babbling nonsense now as she wiped away tears. Maybe guys tend to get carried away with their words during their first time? God! She hopes she did not ruin their relationship by talking about love.
"I am sorry; let's just forget about it." She suggests, but the next second she gasps as she is turned around, and Anthony kisses her reverently. Kate was frozen in surprise, but soon melted into his warm arms as he kept kissing her like he could not have enough.
Finally, he pulls away, and Kate is taken aback by how his eyes are glistening in tears as he says. "You are not alone in this feeling because I love you, Kate Sharma."
Tears spilled from their eyes as he brought her hand to place her heart on his chest as he confessed. "I love you, my Kate. I love you so much that these three words are not enough to describe how much I love you."
"You love me? You truly love me." Kate asks again with the brightest smile on her face.
Kissing her nose, he assured her. "How can I not love you? You are my life, my light, my laughter, and my one true love."
"You are mine too, my one true love. For days, I could not understand these strong feelings because this is something I had never experienced before, but at that party, when Cressida insulted you, I never felt that rage like ever before. She should be thankful I grabbed a glass of fruit punch; otherwise, I would have clawed that smug face off her skin."
Anthony laughed as he pulled Kate into his arms, who smiled contently while kissing his chest. "So we love each other! The exhilarating joy we always felt around each other, the sense of completion, of security, of knowing all will be well as long as I have you by my side—is that really called love?"
"That's one way to describe it." He says this while kissing her forehead, and Kate looks up and stares at him with wide eyes. "Wow, I heard people search all their lives searching for their true love, and here we are, we find each other at eighteen."
And as Kate kissed her love, she did not realise how wrong she was because Anthony loved her way before that, and somehow this is one thing he was unable to confess.
Kate woke up with a huge smile on her face and the smell of her favourite thing. "Hmm, Chai."
She sat up and watched Anthony, dressed in his night clothes, holding a tray of steaming hot chai and pancakes. "Your breakfast is served, my love."
"My love." She giggled as she picked up her cup and took a sip. "Yum, where did you get Patel's chai at this hour?"
Her boyfriend's cheeks flushed, as he admits. "I have brought these ingredients home for you."
Kate gaped at him and took one more sip of delicious chai. "Wait a minute, you made this with chai ingredients? But how did you manage to make it so perfectly, especially the way I love it?"
She watched as his face flushed even more while he reminded her. "I used to work there for a few years, remember? I know how to make all kinds of chai."
Kate's eyes widened in wonder as realisation dawned on her. "Wow? Wait a minute, so all that time you were making my favourite chai?"
She watched as he shrugged, and in the next second, she put the tray away and climbed on top of her boyfriend's lap to kiss him in gratitude. "You know, you were the best person in my life even before we met. Appa and I just love that shop's chai because, for us, it reminds us of our home. We used to even joke, I will marry the guy who made our favourite Chai."
Anthony's ears turn pink as he smiles. "Thanks, I guess."
Kate giggles and kisses her sweet boyfriend, whom she is falling more in love with each passing moment.
After their breakfast was finished, Anthony hand her some spare clothes he grabbed earlier from her room. "You can take shower here, or take one at the main house."
Kate gave her boyfriend a mischievous look as she walked naked towards the connected bathroom and then glanced back. "Honey, are you going to join me or not?"
Anthony stared at his girlfriend in marvel before grabbing a condom from the drawer as he rushed after her for a much-needed shower.
An hour later, everyone was enjoying breakfast when they saw Anthony and Kate returning home, arm in arm, laughing over something. "So all this time, you guys can hear music from school? Even Anderson trumpets noise."
Anthony shuddered at those unpleasant memories as he begged. "Baby, please don't remind me of that horrible trumpet noise; Mr. Patel threw a big discount the day Anderson left the school."
Kate laughed so hard that it made Anthony laugh too.
Violet smiles seeing her son laugh so openly; these days, his happiness brightens the atmosphere wherever he goes.
"Anthony, Kate, are you not going to join us for breakfast?" She asked when both of them settled on the hammock.
"No, mom, we woke up early and had an early breakfast." Anthony says, although Kate noticed his ears turning pink.
"Oh, really? Why did you wake up so early on the weekend?" Violet inquires.
"Um, Kate wants to go for a ride." At that, his brothers started snickering, and Anthony blushed. "I mean horse ride."
"It was wonderful, dear. I hope you both enjoyed your early morning ride."
"We did. It was quite refreshing." Kate teased while wrapping herself around her boyfriend, who was blushing hard.
Benedict and Colin made gagging noises but stopped when Violet glared at them. "Stop being rude; I think you should find yourself a nice girl too."
"Maybe I will." Benedict says this while staring at Sophie, who looked away, but he could see her smiling.
"Well, I don't need any girls; I already have Pen." Colin says this while chewing his scrambled eggs.
Suddenly the room went quiet, and suddenly Penelope stood up and excused herself.
Violet shakes her head because her sons can be so gullible sometimes. "God, Colin, you really have no tact?"
"What? Did I say something wrong?" Colin inquires in confusion while everyone shakes their heads.
"Go, talk to her." Sophie suggests that Benedict pushed him to get up.
Colin was heading out as Anthony advised him. "Also speak with your heart; trust me, girls love nothing when guys speak from their hearts."
"Hmm, your brother is right; the way to a woman's heart is by expressing your feelings."
Colin nods his head and finds Penelope on the patio steps, looking ahead.
"Pen?"
"What now, Col? Are you going to say you were joking, or are you going to mean it like friends?" She said it angrily, and Colin gaped because his Pen was never angry with him.
"I was not joking; I thought it was obvious that you were mine, like I was always yours." He tries to explain himself, but it seems to only annoy Penelope further as she stands up to face him. "Well, for your information, that was never obvious to me; all this time I was just Pen, your friend. You never said otherwise; you never asked me out; you never treated me like I could be someone who you could be interested in!"
"What! Pen, you know you are special to me! I know I am not intense like Anthony or charming like Ben, but what we had was so special to me. I mean, when was the last time you saw me taking an interest in any other girl aside from you? Huh?"
"And that's supposed to make me feel special? You know, these last few days Dan was hinting about going on a dance with me, hoping I asked him, but I ignored him because I was hoping something would change between us."
Colin looked shocked, while Penelope sighed as she shook her head. "I guess it's obvious now, isn't it? Nothing is going to happen between us because I am just a Pen to you, your reliable friend."
She decided to head back when Colin grabbed her hand and pulled her back towards him, and the way his eyes flared up made Penelope tremble in his arms. "You are not just friends; you are so much more, and if that Dumpling thinks I will let my girlfriend ask him for a dance, then he seriously does not know us at all."
"Girlfriend." Penelope gasped in surprise, and Colin cupped her face as he smiled at her. "If you think I am worthy to be your someone more, then I would like to be your boyfriend, my sweet Penelope Featherington."
Penelope's eyes glowed as she stood on her tiptoes and pulled Colin for a kiss that left him breathless.
Once they had their fill, they pulled apart, both beaming at each other, as Penelope says. "Yes, I would love to be your girlfriend!"
And this time she gasped in joy when Colin picked his girlfriend up in his arms to kiss her with passion.
While Colin and Penelope disappeared somewhere, Anthony suggested a hike on the hill.
Violet prepared a picnic basket and a few minutes later watched her children off on another outing as she decided to rest and wait for Colin and Penelope to appear, and hopefully his other son will return with his girlfriend. Now she just hopes Ben and Sophie decide to take a chance on each other. This way, all three of her sons will get lovely girlfriends to make them happy.
Meanwhile, Benedict sat on the hillside, staring at this beautiful moment and taking pictures of his elder brother, whose laughter reminded him of his dad's laughter as he chased everyone around.
Suddenly, Sophie sat beside him and handed him a gift. Benedict stared at it and then at Sophie, who was looking nervous for some reason. "It's nothing, actually, but I was buying this to design a costume, and I bought one for you because Colin mentioned you used to draw in the past."
Benedict quickly unwrapped his present, his eyes widening in surprise. "You are gifting me a sketch book."
Sophie smiled as she got up. "You lack perceptions about things going on in your life; I hope this helps you find the right perception."
Benedict smiled as he watched Sophie walk away and as she settled beside his siblings, and suddenly he felt inspired as he opened his gift and started drawing for the first time in a long time.
Before returning back to Mayfair, Anthony suggests they all had dinner at his Auntie Poppy restaurant, and when they arrived, Kate was delighted they were having karaoke night.
"Girls, I need your help." Kate whispered into Penelope and Sophie's ears, who suddenly got excited.
So they enjoyed dinner and karaoke performances by various guests, and right in the middle of the desert, Anthony heard his Aunt Poppy's excited voice.
"Ladies and gentlemen, for this next song, I am going to invite my darling nephew Anthony Bridgerton and his lovely girlfriend Kate Sharma! Please give them a round of applause!"
"What!" Anthony yells in panic as Kate pulls him up. "Kate I."
"Please, honey, you have such a lovely voice; please sing one song with me." Kate pleaded adorably, and when his family started pleading with Anthony, they could not refuse them. "All right, but one song."
"Yay." Kate cheered and kissed her boyfriend.
They both arrived on stage and held each other's hands as the song began, and they both began to sing it together, creating a perfect symphony.
You good to go?
All I knew This morning when I woke Is I know something now Know something now I didn't before And all I've seen Since eighteen hours ago Is green eyes and freckles and your smile In the back of my mind making me feel like
I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now I just wanna know you, know you, know you
'Cause all I know is we said, "Hello" And your eyes look like comin' home All I know is a simple name And everything has changed All I know is you held the door You'll be mine and I'll be yours All I know since yesterday Is everything has changed
And all my walls Stood tall painted blue But I'll take 'em down, take 'em down And open up the door for you And all I feel In my stomach is butterflies The beautiful kind, makin' up for lost time Takin' flight, makin' me feel like
I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now I just wanna know you, know you, know you
'Cause all I know is we said, "Hello" And your eyes look like comin' home All I know is a simple name Everything has changed All I know is you held the door And you'll be mine and I'll be yours All I know since yesterday Is everything has changed
Come back and tell me why I'm feelin' like I've missed you all this time And meet me there tonight And let me know that it's not all in my mind
I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now I just wanna know you, know you, know you
All I know is we said, "Hello" Your eyes look like comin' home All I know is a simple name And everything has changed All I know is you held the door You'll be mine and I'll be yours All I know since yesterday Is everything has changed
All I know is we said, "Hello" So dust off your highest hopes All I know is pouring rain And everything has changed All I know is a new found grace All my days, I'll know your face All I know since yesterday Is everything has changed
By the end of the song, everyone was on their feet, clapping for them as Kate moved to kiss Anthony.
What they did not know was that Daphne and a few others recorded this moment, and in that same moment, their duet went viral everywhere.
The song went instantly viral everywhere. It became such big hit within an hour that Kate's manager rushed towards the producer's office for an urgent meeting as they also watched and heard this duet performance.
"This was the guy I chose from Mayfair! I told you that together his voice and Kate Sharma will create magic, but you only want one, and now look for yourself. Just imagine if this mere karaoke performance can create so much sensation; then imagine what this guy and Kate create with our advanced instruments and equipment. I am telling you, if we do not move soon, then someone else will hire this boy."
The producers looked genuinely intrigued as they heard the duet again. "Alright, tell our lawyers to make a contract for Anthony Bridgerton, and make sure you convince him this time because next time I see him, I want to see him with Kate Sharma singing for our production company."
With that, the manager left to prepare a legal contract so he could leave for Mayfair to hire Anthony Bridgerton once again.